April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's deflation will last for an eighth year, the central bank said today, making it less likely it will soon end its policy of keeping rates at zero and pumping cash into the world's second-largest economy.

Core consumer prices will fall 0.1 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31 and rise 0.3 percent the following year, according to the median forecasts of the bank's nine policy makers. In their last twice-yearly outlook in October, they forecast prices would rise 0.1 percent this year.

``The central bank will put a seal completely on discussions of policy changes'' this year, said Hiromichi Shirakawa, chief economist at UBS Securities Japan Ltd. in Tokyo and a former Bank of Japan official. ``There may be some chance that the bank will seek a policy shift in mid-2006 at the earliest.''................